@ Count: They do have those hypo-alergenic dogs like our President currently has. I am sure with the time and training you could make it workable. Once I have a place with a yard again, purchase #1 is going to be a German Shepard or maybe one of those Australian sheep dogs. My boss has a golden lab, you can't get within 100 feet of his house without the dog going nuts barking; he trained it from a puppy so the dog is a pretty damn good "Alert" dog.